One of the worst-kept secrets in the NHL over the past week is no longer the subject of rumor: Peter Laviolette is officially the 37th head coach in New York Rangers history, the team announced Tuesday afternoon.
“We are thrilled that Peter will be the next head coach of the New York Rangers,” said Rangers GM Chris Drury in a team release. “With Peter’s extensive experience as a head coach in the National Hockey League, as well as the success his teams have had at several levels throughout his career, we are excited about what the future holds with him leading our team.”
The Rangers sit squarely in their win-now window, delivering 110 and 107 points, respectively, over the past two seasons, so it isn’t a huge surprise to see them choose an uber-experienced coach in Laviolette. His 1,430 games as an NHL bench boss place him 11th all time, and he sits eighth on the wins list and third among active coaches with 752. Chances are he’ll pass Al Arbour for sixth next season, needing just 31 victories to do so.
In 21 seasons, Laviolette, 58, has been to the postseason 13 times, most notably in 2005-06, when he won the Stanley Cup as coach of the Carolina Hurricanes. He took the 2009-10 Philadelphia Flyers and the 2016-17 Nashville Predators to the Stanley Cup Final as well. He’s one of four coaches in NHL history who’ve taken three different franchises to the Final. Most recently, he coached a Washington Capitals team that was on the downslope of its 2018 Stanley Cup-winning peak; in his three seasons with the Caps from 2019-20 through 2022-23, their points percentage slipped from .688 to .610 to .488. This season, they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2013-14. Laviolette and the Capitals mutually agreed to part ways after their season ended in April. His contract was set to expire June 30.
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